On an Application of Dynamic Programming to the Synthesis of Logical Systems
Richard Bellman, John H. Holland, Robert E. Kalaba · Journal of the ACM · 1959
In this paper we wish to initiate the study of the application of dynamic programming to the domain of problems arising in the synthesis of logical systems. In a number of fields one encounters the problem of converting a system in one state into another state in a most efficient fashion—in mathematical economics, in the theory of control processes, in network theory, and in trajectory processes. Here we wish to consider a type of question which arises in the design of computers and switching circuits. We shall first treat the problem in general terms, and then consider a special example to illustrate the methods.